Michael Sachs let me know that he was not the underbidder on the Roger Fenton Billiard Players in the Paul Walter's sale. Although he bid up the lot, he indicates that it was a phone bidder who provided the last bit of competition for Michael Wilson and the Getty.
Dealer Robert Hershkowitz took umbrage with my coverage of him in issue #29 on the Pescheteau-Badin auction. While I think that what I said was accurate, there is sometimes a fine line between dramatizing coverage by mentioning people and the personal observations that may make dry auction details sound exciting or funny, and denigrating a person--something that I never wish to do. As I have said in past newsletters, I have great respect for Hershkowitz's eye and many contributions to the field (his book The British Photographer Abroad: The First Thirty Years, is one of my selections for best book on English Photography in the I Photo Central web site's section on Collecting Issues and Resources). What I may find simply a little amusing, others may view quite differently. My genuine apologies to Robert if I stepped over the line. It was not my intention to hurt him in any way.
Novak has over 49 years experience in the photography-collecting arena. He is a long-time member and formerly board member of the Daguerreian Society, and, when it was still functioning, he was a member of the American Photographic Historical Society (APHS). He organized the 2016 19th-century Photography Show and Conference for the Daguerreian Society in NYC. He is also a long-time member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers, or AIPAD. Novak has been a member of the board of the nonprofit Photo Review, which publishes both the Photo Review and the Photograph Collector, and is currently on the Photo Review's advisory board. He was a founding member of the Getty Museum Photography Council. He is author of French 19th-Century Master Photographers: Life into Art.
Novak has published numerous photography articles and columns in several newspapers, including the Photograph Collector, Focus magazine and the Daguerreian Society Newsletter. He has been interviewed extensively on the photography art market by the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Classic magazine, Maine Antique Digest, the Art Newspaper, Art News, Art Business News, Focus magazine, PDN, Black & White magazine, Photographie Internationale, Antiques & the Arts Online, Art Critical and the Photograph Collector newsletter, as well as by many other publications, television programs and websites, both in the USA and in France. He was quoted extensively in the book, "Collectingphotography" by Gerry Badger. He has spoken at numerous photography events and programs.
He writes and publishes the E-Photo Newsletter, the largest circulation newsletter in the field. Novak is also president and owner of Contemporary Works/Vintage Works, a private photography dealer, which sells by appointment and has sold at exhibit shows, such as AIPAD New York and Miami, Art Chicago, Classic Photography LA, Photo LA, Paris Photo, The 19th-century Photography Show, Art Miami, the Daguerreian Society, etc.
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